19.6.13

On June 19th, Clyde Freemen (born 1928), Chris Walker (born 1936) and
Larry Wilson (born 1952) met us at Mt. Olive AME Church. They all grew up and moved back to Butlertown, MD, a
small close-knit African American settlement. They had story after story about life in that little community. For example, they told stories about hog killing day, tales of swimming in the muddy pond and stories of how a simple get together between a couple of friends became an all-out party. ﻿﻿

18.6.13

Mary Walker was born in Chestertown, Maryland. She attended the segregated school of Garnett (for both elementary and High School). She found employment, like so many African Americans at the time, in factor work. Vita Foods and Campbell Soup Company in the Kent County were her employers. The majority of her years were spent in Delaware. She worked a shift that allowed her to be home when her children came home from school.

Reverend Mary Washington proudly displays a photo-collage of her children.

She moved to her husband's home town of Butlertown (near Worton) Maryland after they married. This close knit African American community is where she raised her one daughter and three sons. Her children still live near her today. She made our mouths water as she reminisced about her grandmothers's biscuits and fried potatoes and her own secret recipe for white potato pie.

12.6.13

On June 12, 2013 Nona Martin, Erin Cooper, Michael Derege, and Samantha Gross traveled out to Johnson's house to learn about her life as a teacher during integration.

Then and Now: Eloise Johnson

Eloise Johnson is the wife of the late local musician, Jazz Johnson While her husband had some local fame in the county, Eloise has had an equally interesting life which she shared with the team at her house on the outskirts of Chestertown. She described her time coming into town to go to Garnett High School, remembering both bad and good teachers during her career. She counts herself lucky as having graduated in 1949, long before integration occurred and, in her opinion, the quality of education decreased.

During the summers she would work and recounts some of the differences between the jobs the white girls would do versus the black girls. After graduation, she went on to teach and eventually went to Virginia State University, a predominantly black school at the time. Her first teaching job was as a first grade teacher. She eventually started teaching at Garnett in the early seventies.She remembers her time teaching with fondness, even with integration. Her teaching philosophy was that "all children can learn something."

Her social life at the time included the famous Uptown Club where she saw people like Ray Charles and more. She remembers the club changing for the worse overtime until its eventual destruction. She is also a member of Elks and she still loves playing bingo and being active in church. She also raised her older sister's child, whose daughter is going to Albright University in the fall.

Erin Cooper (right) spearheaded the interview with Eloise (left).

In terms of Civil Rights, she believes change happened gradually without too much fuss or anything dramatic. She also finds Kent County is still facing problems today.

6.6.13

Erin and Sam interviewed Martha on June 6, 2013 at the Custom House where they learned about her long life living on the Eastern Shore.

Martha Wright
has seen a lot in the last nine decades she has been here. Having spent almost
her whole life in Kent County, save for a few years in Chester and
Philadelphia, PA, she has seen the way the county has changed from her girlhood
days to now. She was born to a very small, black farming community called West
Georgetown, attending a one room schoolhouse until seventh grade and working on
the farm. She then went to Garnett High School (where she had to walk a mile
and a half to catch a bus into town) before attending business school in
Pennsylvania. Martha was then one of the many employees of Vita Foods when they had
a factory on the Eastern Shore, and she eventually worked for Campbell Soup.

(L-R) Erin Cooper, Martha Wright, Samantha Gross

Her life has
been relatively peaceful, and she remembers Chestertown of the past fondly. She
met her husband while she was out socializing and dancing, attending a small saloon
on Cannon Street and the famous Uptown Club, where she heard singers like James
Brown, Fats Domino, and more. She raised her daughters on the road that was
once called Railroad Avenue and is now Queen Street Extension. She also
remembers the Freedom Riders because her husband was one of the men who were
arrested and later let out with help from the NAACP. She says integration was not
something that happened particularly violently or quickly. It was a slow
process, and Chestertown took its time.

Martha has
been retired for some time, having worked more jobs at the local senior center
and for the health department. She has seen the up rise and the decline of the
town, citing the influx of drugs and the need for more jobs as the biggest concerns
for the future.

5.6.13

Mr. Wesley Commodore
was born in 1920 near St. Paul's Episcopal Church, close to Rock Hall MD. His father was a farmer and he also
farmed for forty years. Mr. Commodore describes the ins and outs of daily farm
life in that time period such as milking the cow without machinery and hunting
and fishing for sustenance not sport.
He remembers the war but did not serve, as farmers were exempt from the
draft. Commodore raised his wife’s three
children.

When recalling
social life in Chestertown, he mentions the concerts at the Uptown club as well
as movie theatres. He didn’t frequent the clubs often as he did not drink and gospel music is his favorite kind of music.
He attended Bethel Baptist Church were his wife sang in the choir. He recalls that although there was segregation,
whites and blacks respected each other. His daughter went to a segregated
school in Fairlee.

Mr. Commodore tells
quite a few stories about hunting and farming. Mr. Commodore also has a few stories about what life was like before the Bay Bridge was built.

William Preston Lane Memorial Chesapeake Bay Bridge
Original Span construction started in 1949 and was completed in 1952

On June 4, 2013 Nona Martin and Michael Derege interviewed William Pickrum.

Pickrum today

William
Pickrum was born and raised at the site of the YMCA’s Camp Tockwogh around
Still Pond Neck. Even though he was the black child of black workers, he still
partook in many of the camp activities with its white residents, and did not
quite recognize the issue of skin color until later in life He interacted
little with children of his race until he attended Coleman Elementary School, a
one room schoolhouse, until sixth grade. He remembers the small school as
initially having no central heating or indoor plumbing. He later went to
Garnett High School where many of the black students of the time went. He
missed the integration of Chestertown High School, graduating in 1966. He
considers this a fortunate event as he did not think much could match the
nurturing, caring nature of his schooling.

In terms of
the social atmosphere of Chestertown, he remembers there being a lot of de
facto segregation. Tasty Freeze,
which is now The Freeze, would not
serve black customers inside is establishment; the Uptown Club was in its full
height of popularity on the Chitlin’ Circuit, and places like Rock Hall,
Tolchester Beach, and Betterton Beach were still clearly divided.

After high
school, Pickrum went on to the Coast Guard Academy and traveled to different
places like Connecticut and Pensacola, discovering racial problems still existed
albeit at different levels. He now serves as the county commissioner. As the commissioner,
he offers some unique insight on the current issues facing Chestertown today—namely
education, public involvement, the continued problems with prejudice.

4.6.13

Donald Derhum
is one of the Washington College Alumni who decided to return to Chestertown
later in life. He is also a War World II veteran,
having completed college on the GI Bill. As many other veterans, he remembers his time in the war as a
gunner with the same mixture of fondness and sadness, describing places in the Pacific, particularly his time spent in the
Philippines, while also recounting stories of beheaded American soldiers and
the ending of the war with the A bomb. He still has a reunion every year with
his squadron.

Dean's Cabinet from 1963

Since he only
spent a year at Washington before serving, he returned to complete his collegiate career. Upon
his graduation in 1948, he had been a member of a variety of sports clubs, on
the Dean’s Men of Council, in the Society of Sciences, and a brother of Kappa
Alpha Order. He later worked in sales and met his wife who lives with him
today. Even while he lived in other places, including Atlanta, GA, he returned
to his alma mater and keeps in touch with the College—so much so that KA members today know who he is.

3.6.13

Michael Derege and Samantha Gross interviewed Karen Smith on June 3rd. Karen Smith is a recently retired professor from Washington College, and has called Maryland her home her entire life. Having been born in Washington D.C., and then raised in Kensington and Chevy Chase--two towns in Montgomery County, Maryland, she has seen a lot in this small Eastern state. She describes her time in Chevy Chase and walking by the black section of town, called Ken Gar, and witnessing the growth of the Hispanic population. She remembers going to schools that were integrated in areas that were still segregated as well as a black hosue keeper who acted as a nanny to her and her siblings. Smith also recounts the beginning of her lifelong career with dancing whether it be the structured class time or the Sock Hops she attended in school.

She eventually went to University of Maryland, majoring in Dance and minoring in Spanish before coming to Washington College to teach Dance and Physical Education in the later half of the sixties. She remembers Chestertown as small and quaint with people who were very helpful. She also remembers the Uptown Club and a place called "The Tavern" that professors had meetings. Smith continues to describe the racial atmosphere at the time, citing the slow and small growth of a black student body. Some of her memories include not being able to hold golf classes at the Country Club if she bought either black or Jewish students as well as a Chinese restaurant that met so much resistance it eventually closed its door

Smith also discusses the growth of the dance program, her hopes for the future of the program, and her own plans for what seems to be an active retirement.

The Custom House

Home of C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience

This is the official blog for the C.V. Starr Center at Washington College's StoryQuest Program. We are currently covering the Summer 2013 program about the Civil Rights Movement along the Eastern Shore of Maryland. You can read about the various interviews conducted and watch as the stories about Maryland's history in the sixties unfold. Enjoy!